SONGS  OF  SEA  AND  SAIL 


SONGS  OF  «  * 
SEA  AND  SAIL 

THOMAS  FLEMING  DAY 


NEW  YORK  AND   LONDON 
THE    RUDDER    PUBLISHING    COMPANY 

1898 


By  THOMAS   FLEMING  DAY 
All  Rights  Reserved 


PRESS  OF 

THOMSON    &    Co. 
NEW  YORK 


f 


TO 
THOSE     WHO    LOVE 

THE    SEA 
AND    ITS    SHIPS. 


M4343S 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

The  Mermaid's  Song  9 

Trafalgar  13 

When  i& 

The  Forsaken  Port  19 

An  Early  Moonset  24 

On  the  Bridge  25 

Missing         -  3° 

Making  Land   -  31 

At  Portsmouth      -        -  35 

At  Anchor         -  39 

From  the  Cliff  4° 

Then  and  Now  -         -      42 

The  Ships     -        -  43 

The  Man-o'-War's  Man's  Yarn  49 

A  Foggy  Morning         -  53 

Unknown 55 

The  Coasters  57 

To-Day    -  62 

The  Sailor  of  the  Sail  63 

The  Yacht        -  -        -      68 

The  Trade  Wind's  Song  .....          69 


Execution  Rock  Light 7I 

The  Cargo  Boats 73 

Noontide  Calm 77 

Old  Buccaneer's  Song 81 

The  Belfry  of  the  Sea 85 

Phantoms qe 

Flotsam    -  9g 

The  Lost  Ship  - 99 

The  Main  Sheet  Song IOI 

The  Landfall IO3 

The  Clipper      -  IO4 

The  Constitution !O5 

The  Tartar IO7 

Warning  .         .        .         IIO 

In  September IIX 

The  Homeward  Bounder's  Song  -         -        -         113 

The  Spell  of  the  Sea  n5 

Days  of  Oak          ---.._.         II7 

Long,  Long  Ago II9 

Wind  Happy  Ships       -                  -         -        -         -         122 
The  Quest         -  I2 


THE  MERMAID'S  SONG. 


OH,  WHAT  comes  flowing  over  the  sea 
In  the  hush  of  the  evening's  cool? 

It  is  a  mermaid  singing  to  me 
As  she  sits  in  a  silver  pool. 

As  she  sits  in  a  silver  pool  and  sings 
Of  the  world  I  never  shall  see, 
Where  the  dulse-weed  clings, 
And  the  star-fish  rings 

The  red  anemone; 
The  world  which  lies 
Where  human  eyes 

Are  never  allowed  to  see 
The  gold  and  gems 
And  fluted  stems 

Of  the  crimson  coral  tree — 

Is  that  what  she  sings  to  me  ? 
9 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 
'*!«'«         *.  /  ;  i  •  •  •  • 
She'Ts  hatafitiAg'  anti'  holding  my  heart  with  a 


Where  joy  lies  asleep  in  the  shadow  of  pain; 

And  the  world  that  is  under  the  sea 
Is  spreading  its  pleasures  and  treasures  to  gain 

The  love  that  lies  dormant  in  me  — 

The  love  that  I  bear  for  the  sea, 

For  the  secret  and  sorrowful  sea; 
Is  luring  my  feet  from  the  gray  land  again 
And  filling  my  soul  with  the  scent  of  the  main, 

The  sound  and  the  scent  of  the  sea; 
And  the  speech  of  the  siren  is  spoken  in  vain, 

For  that  mermaid  is  singing  to  me 

Of  the  world  that  is  under  the  sea; 
And  the  love  that  I  bear  for  the  ocean  again, 

For  the  mournful  and  mutable  sea, 

Has  taken  possession  of  me: 
My  heart  is  enmeshed  in  the  mystical  strain 

That  mermaid  is  singing  to  me 

Of  the  world  that  lies  under  the  sea. 


10 


THE  MERMAID'S  SONG. 

Ah,  hark  again !    In  a  sadder  strain 

She  is  singing  a  song  to  me — 

A  song  of  the  unseen  sea; 
She  is  singing  of  ships  whose  wrecks  have  lain 

For  ages  in  the  sea, 

In  the  depths  of  the  sunless  sea; 
And  her  voice  is  soft  with  a  thought  of  the  pain 

That  song  is  giving  to  me. 
A  thought  that  I  thought  forever  had  lain 

In  the  depths  of  the  soundless  sea 
Is  searching   my  soul  in  that  mermaid's  strain 

And  bringing  a  sorrow  to  me 

From  the  world  that  is  under  the  sea. 
For  I  have  a  friend  whose  bones  have  lain 

For  ages  in  the  sea, 

(For  so  it  seems  to  me), 
And  her  song  has  opened  that  wound  again 

And  brought  back  a  sorrow  to  me — 

From  the  depths  of  the  endless  sea. 


i  i 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

A  grief  that  is  grieving  my  life  again, 

A  thought  that  I  thought,  forever  had  lain, 

And  never  come  back  to  me, 
Is  searching  my  soul  in  that  mermaid's   strain 
And  bringing  a  sorrow  to  me 
From  the  world  that  lies  under  the  sea. 

Oh,  what  comes  flowing  over  the  sea 
In  the  hush  of  the  evening's  cool? 

It  is  a  mermaid  singing  to  me 
As  she  sits  in  a  silver  pool. 


12 


TRAFALGAR,   1805. 

WE  hailed  the  morning  star 

Above  the  Spanish  shore; 

Our  cannon's  random  roar 
Then  woke  black  Trafalgar. 

Where  our  foes 
Lay  in  the  crescent  bay 
We  watched  the  fog  bank  gray 
Melt  silently  away 

As  the  sun  uprose. 
Then  rolled  the  deep  alarm— 
The  foeman's  call  to  arm; 
And  swiftly  from  our  van 
There  pass'd  from  man  to  man, 

"They  will  fight." 
With  hearts  that  beat  to  chase 

We  caught  the  growing  gale, 

And  'neath  a  press  of  sail 
Bore  up  to  take  our  place 

On  the  right. 

13 


SONGS  OF  SEA  AND  SAIL. 

Nelson,  our  admiral  then, 
Greatest  of  all  seamen, 
We  cheered  to  death  again 
As  he  pass'd; 

'Round  toward  the  land 
We  tacked  and  stood  about — 
The  hills  rang  to  our  shout 
As  lifted  and  blew  out 

His  last  command 
From  the  mast. 

Then  flash'd  our  full  broadside, 
Roaring  across  the  tide, 
As  crashing  side  by  side 

We  broke  their  line; 
Thro'  rolling  clouds  of  smoke 
Burst  in  our  prows  of  oak; 
Their  tall  sides  bent  and  broke 

Like  pine. 

As  died  the  stagger'd  blast 
The  sails  dropt  to  the  mast; 
That  broadside  was  their  last! 
One  more  to  clip  her  wing! 
14 


TRAFALGAR. 

Quick  away! 

Tigers  our  boarders  spring, 
Cutlass  to  cutlass  ring, 

In  the  fray. 

We  heard  no  quarter  call : 
A  man  stood  every  Gaul ! 
Useless,  their  flag  must  fall 

That  day. 

The  fight  thus  well  begun, 
We  paused  a  breathing  space; 
Each  soul  leapt  to  a  face 
As  Nelson  in  his  grace 

Signaled  ''Well  done!" 
Staying  the  tott'ring  mast 
We  rounded  to  the  blast, 
Grappled  the  next  that  pass'd- 

A  huge  Spaniard. 
No  room  to  lift  the  ports: 
Black  gun  to  gun  retorts — 
Lip  locked  to  lip, 
Each  man  a  firmer  grip 

On  his  lanyard. 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

To  save  this  pride  of  Spain 

A  Frenchman  joined  the  fight; 
Then  roaring  in  our  might 
We  smote  him  with  our  right 

Twice,  and  again. 

"Cease !  Cease !  "  our  Captain  cries. 
"She  lies 

A  silent  wreck!  " 

Three  times  we  spared  that  foe, 
Yet  from  her  came  the  blow 
That  laid  our  hero  low 

On  the  deck. 

What  more  for  me  to  say, 

Save  thro'  the  fatal  fray 

We  marked  the  hours  that  day 

With  cheers! 

Our  foes  struck  one  by  one; 
Yet  when  the  fight  was  done 
We  saw  the  misty  sun 

Set  thro*  our  tears. 
O  England,  strong  yet  free, 
The  crown  we  bear  to  thee, 
16 


TRAFALGAR. 

Laurels  for  victory ! 

Weave  cypress  in  the  wreath : 
For  he  to  whom  thou  gave 
The  keeping  of  the  wave, 
Nelson,  the  true,  the  brave, 

Has  struck  his  flag  to  death. 

Oh,  men  of  hero  race, 
In  what  a  fitting  place 

To  set  his  conquering  star! — 
Amid  the  battle's  roar, 
Under  the  rolling  shore 
Where  rises  wild  and  hoar 

Cape  Trafalgar. 


WHEN. 


WHEN  western  winds  are  blowing  soft 

Across  the  Island  Sound  ; 
When  every  sail  that  draws  aloft 

Is  swollen  true  and  round  ; 
When  yellow  shores  along  the  lee 

Slope  upward  to  the  sky  ; 
When  opal  bright  the  land  and  sea 

In  changeful  contact  lie  ; 
When  idle  yachts  at  anchor  swim 

Above  a  phantom  shape  ; 
When  spires  of  canvas  dot  the  rim 

Which  curves  from  cape  to  cape  ; 
When  sea-weed  strewn  the  ebbing  tide 

Pours  eastward  to  the  main  ; 
When  clumsy  coasters  side  by  side 

Tack  in  and  out  again — 
When  such  a  day  is  mine  to  live, 

What  has  the  world  beyond  to  give  ? 


18 


THE   FORSAKEN  PORT. 


THRO'  all  this  perfect  summer  day 

The  wind  has  blown  from  out  the  west, 
And  now  the  sunset  fires  invest 

Where  looms  the  mainland  far  away, 
The  old  town  right  abreast. 

The  red-brown  roofs  and  rugged  spires 

Uplift  and  pierce  the  sunset  fires, 
The  old  town  right  abreast. 

The  ships  rise  up,  and  sail,  and  sail, 
Then  drop  beneath  the  distant  rim— 
The  crimson  rim. 

We  watch  their  topsails  float  and  trail- 
Like  bubbles  'round  a  goblet's  brim, 

A  moment  there  they  rise  and  dip, 

Then  break  against  the  sky's  red  lip. 

Unhailed  the  ships  go  sailing  by 
The  old  town  over  there; 
I9 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

And  yet  it  seems  we  hear  a  cry — 
A  heart-born  cry 

Of  anguish  and  despair, 

Of  hope  lost  in  despair. 
In  speechful  grief  the  old  town  stands 
And  beckons  with  its  outstretched  hands 
As  the  ships  go  sailing  by. 
Long  years  ago  its  port  was  thronged 

With  many  a  busy  sail, 

With  rustling  sail. 
And  many  a  heart  has  sighed  and  longed 

For  that  old  town's  cheery  hail — 

Has  sighed  and  longed  for  that  old  town's 

welcome  hail. 
Oh,  where  are  they  who  left  thy  port 

In  strength  of  youth,  in  pride  of  love? 
Side  by  side  with  a  dark  consort, 

Calm  seas  below,  blue  skies  above, 
They  tacked  and  stood  across  the  bar: 
Only  the  sea  knows  where  they  are — 
Only  the  sea! 


20 


THE  FORSAKEN  PORT. 

Perhaps  at  night  the  phantom  ships — 

Thy  lost  ships — come  sailing  in; 
Their  spectre  crews  with  parted  lips 
That  utter  no  sound,  for  the  spell  of  death 
Turns  even  a  laugh  to  a  grin. 
Do  they  wait,  and  list  for  the  din 
Of  the  cheers  and  the  bells  to  welcome  them 

in — 
For  the  cheers  and  the  bells  to    welcome 

them  in? 

Do  their  dead  hearts  know  hopes  and  fears  ? 
Do  they  dream  of  the  wives  they  've  not  seen 

for  years? — 
The  wives  and  the  sweethearts  who  watched 

them  thro'  tears 
Sail   away,    sail   away,    when   the    wind  was 

south 
And  the  bar  was  blue  at  the  harbor's  mouth, 

And  the  gulls  flew  low  like  flakes  of   snow, 
And  the  summer  wind  bore  the  heave-yo-ho 
Of  the  sailors  brown 
Into  the  town? 

21 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

Are  they  here,  the  ones  so  dear  ? 

Alas!  the  lips  that  their  lips  have  known, 

Alas!  the  hearts  that  once  beat  to  their  own 
Are  lying  up  on  the  hillside  there, 

And  the  daisies  and  grasses  have  overgrown 
Their  graves  for  many  a  year. 
Yon  sentinel  pine  that  watches  the  graves 

Where  their  wives  and  sweethearts  are  laid 

to  rest 
The  wild  winter  wind  defies  and  outbraves; 

Its  roots  are  sunk  in  some  loved  one's  breast. 

Are  their  souls  at  rest  ? 

Sometimes,   I  think,   they  must  wander  down 
here 

To  watch  for  the  ships  that  never  will  come. 
In  the  silence  of  night  they  throng  the  old  pier 

To  welcome  the  wanderers  home; 
Their  lustreless  eyes — 

Enough  of  death  and  ghostly  tales! 
Oh,  let  the  old  town  keep  its  vigil  there, 
Watching  for  those  who  were ! 

What  though  the  dark  ship  with  us  sails — 

22 


THE  FORSAKEN  PORT. 

Ah,  fools,  to  freight  our  hearts  with  care ! 

To  waste  our  breath  in  idle  hails, 

To  cringe  and  cry. 
We  live  for  those  who  are,  not  were ! — 

We  live  to  live,  not  die! 


23 


AN    EARLY    MOONSET. 


LIKE  galleon  flying  a  picaroon, 

Along  the  edge  the  ship-shap'd  moon 

Leadeth  a  star  across  the  sea 

To  the  cloudy  harbor  under  her  lee. 

With  her  splendid  lading  of  golden  light 
She  seems  to  dread  the  pirate  Night ; 

With  puffing  sails  and  fretful  oars 

She  steereth  and  speedeth  for  purple  shores 

She  will  anchor  to-night  beneath  the  fort 
Whose  grim  guns  guard  the  cloudy  port, 

Where  sound  and  safe  from  picaroon 
Rides  many  an  olden  and  golden  moon. 


24 


ON   THE   BRIDGE. 


EIGHT  bells  ring  out  from  the  fo'c'sle  head; 

With  a  cheery  good-eve  the  mate  comes  forth, 
The  second  goes  off  to  his  welcome  bed, 

After  giving  the  course  as  west  by  north. 

As  I  stand  with  my  chin  on  the  dodger's  ridge 
And  dreamily  eye  our  plunging  craft 

There's  a  rattle  of  heels  on  the  flying  bridge 
And  a  gruff  report  that  the  watch  is  aft. 

"  All  right!"  says  the  mate,  with  a  glance  below; 

"  Relieve  the  wheel  and  the  lookout  there!  " 
And  then  we  begin,  with  our  to  and  fro, 

The  walk  and  the  talk  we  nightly  share. 

In  silence  at  first — for  our  pipes  are  lit — 
We  pace  and  puff,  and  we  pause  and  turn, 

And  it's  up  and  down,  for  she  rolls  a  bit 
When  flying  light  with  the  sea  astern. 
25 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

But  there's  a  key  in  the  hands  of  smoke 
That  fits  a  lock  in  the  lazy  brain, 

And  we  spring  the  wards  with  a  quiet  joke 
And  rout  out  a  store  of  yarns  again. 

Our  voices  ring  with  a  pleasant  sound, 
And  now  and  again  it  seems  to  me 

As  though  in  the  roar  that  sweeps  around 
We  are  joined  by  the  social  sea. 

And  in  that  strange  way  that  talk  is  bred— 

As  a  few  grains  sown  bring  the  wheaty  stack- 
So  something  afresh  the  other  said 

Put  the  roaming  brain  on  another  tack. 

And  we  boxed  about  in  an  aimless  way, 
With  a  careless  fling  from  sea  to  land, 

And  spoke  of  the  world  as  a  young  man  may 
When  he  hasn't  the  time  to  understand. 

We  spoke  of  the  land  that  gave  us  birth; 

We  spoke  of  the  one  that's  home  to  me : 
Those  nations  destined  to  shape  the  earth 

To  the  single  state  it  is  to  be — 
26 


ON  THE  BRIDGE. 

Of  tricks  we  played  in  our  school-boy  days; 

The  fun  and  frolic  of  being  young; 
How  we  jollied  life  in  a  hundred  ways 

With  gibes  that  pleased  and  jests  that  stung. 

And  of  those  we  loved — for  now  we  knew 
With  half  our  life  in  the  dim  astern 

Which  lights  were  false  and  which  lights  were 

true, 
And  whose  was  the  hand  that  bid  them  burn. 

Of  the  rough  hard  life  the  sailor  leads, 
The  pay  he  gets  and  the  sharks  ashore, 

And  what  are  the  laws  our  shipping  needs, 
And  the  way  things  went  in  days  of  yore. 

Of  the  sailing  ship  as  she  yet  survives, 

Of  rigs  we  never  shall  see  again, 
Of  inventions  that  save  our  seamen's  lives 

And  murder  the  breed  of  sailor  men. 

We  talk  of  these  and  of  many  a  bout 

When  a  crew  came  aft  for  a  nasty  row — 
When  loud  comes  a  cry  from  the  fore  look-out 

Of  a  light  on  the  starboard  bow. 

27 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

"All  right!"  the  response.   Then  we  train  our  eyes 
On  the  western  rim  thro'  the  closing  night. 

It's  a  steamer,  sure,  by  the  flash  and  size — 
A  liner's  electric  masthead  light. 

She  rises  fast,  and  is  soon  up  well, 
Rushing  along  'neath  a  smoky  pall, 

A  mass  of  lights  like  some  huge  hotel 
Ablaze  for  its  annual  boarders'  ball. 

As  she  grows  abeam — for  we  give  her  space, 
For  twenty  knots  is  a  right  of  way — 

There's  an  answering  glow  on  old  ocean's  face 
And  a  glint  on  the  waves  in  play. 

And  I  think,  as  I  watch  her  speed  along, 
Of  the  many  lives  she  holds  in  trust, 

And  ponder  what  they  would  do,  that  throng, 
If  Fate  should  get  in  a  deadly  thrust. 

A  ship  like  ours  or  a  sunken  wreck — 

A  crash  in  the  dark — some  plates  stove  in — 

A  frightened  rush  for  the  upper  deck, 
And  a  clamorous,  cowardly  din ! 
28 


ON   THE  BRIDGE. 

How  some  would  die  as  men  should  die, 
How  some  would  perish  in  selfish  strife, 

How  some  in  that  hour  would  dignify 
By  a  noble  close  a  worthless  life. 

How  she  whose  vigor  we  oft  deride— 

The  woman — would  show  her  courage  then, 

And  meet  her  death  at  her  lover's  side 
In  a  way  to  shame  the  best  of  men. 

But,  Science  be  praised,  it  is  seldom  now 
We  lose  a  ship  by  a  sudden  crash, 

For  what  with  the  lights  and  the  whistle's  row 
We  luckily  dodge  a  general  smash. 

And  that  ship  there,  as  she  breasts  the  swell 
And  ghosts  her  side  with  a  foamy  ridge, 

Has  had  many  a  shave— for  logs  don't  tell 
All  the  tales  of  a  steamer's  bridge. 

In  silence  we  watch  her  for  quite  a  time 
Until  she  becomes  a  smoky  blear, 

Then  as  ten  rings  out  from  the  fo'c'sle  chime 
I  go  aft  to  my  cheese  and  my  beer. 
29 


MISSING. 


A  CLOUDLESS  sky,  a  sleeping  sea, 

A  cold  gray  reach  of  shore, 
A  gleam  of  sail  upon  the  lee— 

And  nothing  more. 

My  eyes  saw  that,  my  heart  saw  more: 

A  woman  whose  quivering  lip 
Moulded  this  sentence  o'er  and  o'er, 

"God  keep  that  ship!" 

God  keep  that  ship!  Her  prayer,  not  mine, 

Goes  out  across  the  sea 
To  where  beyond  the  misty  line 

A  face  is  turned  from  me. 
God  keep  that  ship!  Her  ship,  not  mine — 

Mine  never  came  back  to  me. 


MAKING  LAND. 


THE  fore-royal  furled,  I  pause  and  I  stand, 
Both  feet  on  the  yard,  for  a  look  around, 

With  eyes  that  ache  for  a  sight  of  the  land, 
For  we  are  homeward  bound. 

Like  a  bowl  of  silver  the  ocean  lies, 
Untouched  by  the  fret  of  a  single  sail, 

And  over  its  edge  the  billows  uprise 
And  slide  before  the  gale. 

I  see,  close  beneath  me,  the  garn's'l  bulge, 
And  half  of  the  tops'l  swollen  and  round 

Swells  out  above,  where  the  bunts  divulge 
The  foresTs  snowy  mound. 

With  a  fill  and  a  flap  the  jibs  respond, 
As  she  rolls  a-weather,  then  rolls  a-lee, 

And  her  bone  as  she  leaps  is  thrown  beyond 
The  next  o'ertaken  sea. 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

And  the  hull  beneath  in  its  foamy  ring 
Is  narrowed  in  by  the  spread  of  sail, 

And  the  waves  as  they  wash  her  seem  to  fling 
Their  heads  above  the  rail. 

And  I  hear  the  roar  of  the  passing  blast, 
And  the  hiss  and  gush  of  the  parted  sea 

Is  mixed  with  the  groan  of  the  straining  mast, 
And  the  parrel's,  che,   che,  che. 

Of  the  weather  deck  where  the  old  man  strides, 
From  the  break  of  the  poop  to  the  after-rail, 

I  can  catch  a  glimpse,  but  all  besides 
Is  hid  by  swelling  sail. 

For  the  wake  abaft  is  shut  behind, 

Except  when  she  yaws  from  her  helm  and 

throws; 
Then  like  a  green  lane  it  seems  to  wind 

Aheap  with  drifted  snows. 

But  lo!  as  I  gaze  the  weather  clew 
Of  the  topsail  lifts  to  the  watch's  weight, 

And  the  helmsman  comes  into  perfect  view, 
And  at  his  side  the  mate. 
32 


MAKING  LAND. 

As  I  swing  my  eyes  ahead  again 

For  that  one  last  look  ere  I  drop  below, 

They  catch  as  she  lifts  a  grayish  stain 
Athwart  the  orange  glow. 

My  heart  leaps  up  at  the  welcome  sight, 
And  I  grasp  the  pole  with  a  firmer  hand, 

And  shading  my  eyes  from  the  glancing  light 
Make  sure  that  it  is  land. 

It  seems  to  dance,  but  I  catch  it  still 
As  we  lift  to  the  sweep  of  a  longer  sea — 

"*T  is  the  windy  top  of  a  far-off  hill 
Whose  shape  is  known  to  me. 

Then  I  send  a  yell  to  the  rolling  deck, 

And  start  all  hands  from  their  work  below; 

As  I  point  with  a  rigid  arm  at  the  speck — 
The  cry  comes  back,  "Land  ho!  " 

And  the  mate  looks  up  and  gives  a  call, 
The  old  man  stops  in  his  clock-like  walk, 

The  watch  lets  up  on  the  top-sail  fall 
And  takes  a  spell  of  talk. 
33 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

The  skipper  goes  aft  to  the  binnacle,  where 
He  shapes  his  hand  on  the  compass  card, 

And  takes  with  a  glance  the  bearing  there, 
Eying  me  on  the  yard. 

And  I  stand  with  my  right  arm  swinging  out, 
With  a  finger  true  on  the  dancing  speck, 

Until  on  my  ears  falls  the  ringing  shout : 
"All  right!    Lay  down  on  deck!" 


34 


AT  PORTSMOUTH 


THE  great  ships  in  the  harbour 

Sit  silent  on  the  tide, 
And  in  the  sea  beneath  them 

Their  gloomy  shadows  ride. 

There  is  no  life,  no  beauty, 
No  grace  the  heart  can  feel, 

In  those  irenic  monsters — 
Those  hideous  forms  of  steel. 

It  is  old  England's  squadron, 
Her  constant  watch  and  ward — 

The  bulwark  of  her  freedom, 
The  Channel's  matchless  guard. 

How  different  from  the  frigates 
That  bore  the  dauntless  Blake; 

How  different  from  the  liners 
That  roared  in  Nelson's  wake! 
35 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

Majestic  then  and  lofty 
They  towered  above  the  deep, 

Bestowing  beauty  on  the  main 
Their  forms  were  framed  to  keep. 

Sail  over  sail  they  offered 
Their  canvas  to  the  wind, 

That  mimicked  in  its  whiteness 
The  wake  they  swept  behind. 

No  wonder  kingly  seamen 
Were  bred  in  ships  like  those; 

No  wonder  that  they  made  them 
A  terror  to  their  foes. 

For  in  the  grace  and  beauty 
They  shed  upon  the  sea 

Man  found  the  inspiration 
That  kept  him  brave  and  free. 

And  man  and  ship  together 
Played  well  that  noble  part, 

Until  their  oaken  sides  became 
A  symbol  for  his  heart. 
36 


AT  PORTSMOUTH. 

But  look !  where  black  and  formless 
Those  modern  monsters  ride 

A  blot  upon  the  seascape, 
A  load  upon  the  tide. 

Hark !  from  the  massive  flagship 
Breathes  out  the  morning  gun ; 

Exultant  in  its  mission 
Her  ensign  meets  the  sun. 

From  battle-ship  and  cruiser, 
From  merchantman  and  fort, 

The  cross  of  red  makes  glorious 
The  strong  and  ancient  port. 

Then  with  a  heart  that  follows 

I  turn  my  eager  eyes 
To  where  at  honored  moorings 

The  grand  old  victor  lies. 

There  floats  the  same  proud  bunting 
She  swept  along  the  breeze 

The  day  that  France  was  broken 
And  driven  from  the  seas. 
37 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

There  in  prophetic  splendor 
It  crowns  her  shapely  spar, 

The  promise  of  a  future— 
The  final  Trafalgar. 


AT  ANCHOR. 


SIGHTS  of  sail  are  caught  on  the  edge- 
Black  coasters  waiting  the  flood; 

Nest  of  spars  that  stroke  like  the  sedge 
Long  rivers  of  sunset  blood. 

Gleam  of  lamps  low  down  in  the  west, 

Gulls  crying  over  the  bar, 
Sea  as  still  as  a  child  at  breast, 

Moon  following  up  a  star. 

That  is  to-night — and  our  own  to  twist 
Round  memory's  finger  and  hold, 

As  guerdon  for  those  we've  lost  or  missed 
While  fretting  and  fighting  for  gold. 


39 


FROM    THE   CLIFF. 


THE  wind  is  fresh,  the  wind  is  foul; 
The  clouds  are  long  and  low  and  gray; 
The  rocky  headland  wears  a  cowl, 
And  looks  a  monk  who  kneels  to  pray 
And  tell  his  beads  for  parting  souls: 
While  out  beyond  the  bar  there  rolls 
A  sullen  swell,  and  white  and  high 
Along  the  cliffs  the  breakers  fly. 

Roar,  roar,  O  Sea!   Thy  stormy  song 
Appalls  the  weak,  but  nerves  the  strong. 

Look !  yonder  bark  with  puffing  sail 
Has  turned  her  bow  to  win  the  sea; 
She  fears  to  meet  the  rising  gale 
With  reef  and  rockland  on  her  lee. 
And  as  she  luffs  the  blast  to  greet, 
By  halyard,  clew,  and  straining  sheet, 
40 


FROM  THE  CLIFF. 

All,  all,  alert  her  seamen  stand, 
And  watch  with  anxious  eye  the  land. 

Roar,  roar,  O  Sea!  Thy  stormy  song 
Appalls  the  weak,  but  nerves  the  strong. 

Then  tack  on  tack  she  weathers  out — 
Her  topsails  shiver  in  the  wind; 
Down  goes  the  helm,  she  flies  about, 
And  leaping  off  soon  leaves  behind 
The  rocky  dangers,  and  has  past 
The  headland,  when  the  wrathful  blast, 
Bursts  from  the  cloud  and  wild  and  grand 
Hurls  in  the  sea  against  the  land. 

Roar,  roar,  O  Sea!  Thy  stormy  song 
Appalls  the  weak,  but  nerves  the  strong. 


THEN  AND  NOW. 


THE  wind  has  changed  to  happy  south, 

The  tide  is  setting  free, 
As  one  by  one,  past  harbor  mouth, 

Our  ships  stand  out  to  sea. 
We  watch  them  pass,  my  love  and  I ; 

We  shout  Halloo!  from  shore. 
Good-bye!  Good-bye!  the  sailors  cry; 

Good-bye !  the  breakers  roar. 

The  wind  has  turned  to  icy  north, 

Full  bitterly  it  blows; 
The  sea  is  wroth,  and  white  with  froth, 

And  no  ship  comes  or  goes. 
We  watch  for  them,  my  love  and  I ; 

We  linger  on  the  shore. 
The  breakers  cry  Ho !  ho !  Good-bye ! — 

Good-bye  for  evermore. 


42 


THE  SHIPS. 


SING  the  sea,  sing  the  ships, 

Sing  the  sea  and  its  ships, 

With  the  lightness  and  the  brightness 

Of  the  foam  about  their  lips; 

When  reaching  off  to  seaward, 

When  running  down  to  leeward, 

When  beating  up  to  port  with  the  pilot  at  the 

fore ; 

When  racing  down  the  Trade, 
Or  ratching  half  afraid 
With   a  lookout   on   the   yard  for  the  marks 

along  the  shore. 

Sing  them  when  you  frame  them, 
Sing  them  when  you  name  them, 
Sing  them  as  you  sing  the  woman  whom  you 
love  ; 

43 


THE  SHIPS. 

For  the  world  of  life  they  lose  you, 
For  the  home  that  they  refuse  you, 
For  the  sea  that  deeps  beneath  them  and  the 
sky  that  crowns  above. 

Sing  them  when  they  leave  you, 

Sing  them  when  they  grieve  you, 
Going  down  the  harbor  with  a  smoky  tug  along ; 

With  the  yards  braced  this  and  that, 

And  the  anchor  at  the  cat, 
And  the  bunting  saying  good-bye  to  the  watch 
ing,  waving  throng. 

Sing  them  when  they  need  you, 
Sing  them  when  they  speed  you, 
With  their  stems  making  trouble  for  the  steep 

Atlantic  seas; 

When  the  channel  as  she  rolls 
Heaps  the  foam  along  the  poles, 
And  the  decks  fore-and-aft  are  awash  above 
your  knees. 

Sing  them  when  they  spring  you, 
Sing  them  when  they  wing  you, 


44 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

Rolling  down  the  Trades  with  a  breeze  that 

never  shifts; 

When  the  crew  they  quite  forget 
What  is  meant  by  cold  and  wet, 
And  the  feel  of  the  braces  and  the  sheets  and 
the  lifts. 

Sing  them  when  they  mock  you, 
Sing  them  when  they  shock  you, 
Smothered  under  topsails  with  the  kingly  Horn 

abeam ; 

When  the  wind  flies  round  about 
And  the  watch  is  always  out, 
And  all  hands  are  wishing  that  they'd  signed 
to  go  in  steam. 

Sing  the  sea,  sing  the  ships, 
Sing  the  sea  and  its  ships, 
With  the  molding  and  the  folding 
Of  the  wave  about  their  form ; 
Sing  them  when  they  teach  us, 
Sing  them  when  they  preach  us, 
A  lesson  in  the  calm  and  a  sermon  in  the  storm. 

45 


THE   SHIPS. 

Sing  them  when  the  dying 
Wind  has  left  them  lying 
With  the  canvas  in  the  brails  a-tremble  to  the 

rolls; 

And  the  ocean  is  so  still 
That  you  wonder  if  it  will 
Give  back  to  her  who  bore  them  those  legions  of 
lost  souls. 

Sing  the  sea,  sing  the  ships, 

Sing  the  sea  and  its  ships, 

With  the  forming  and  the  storming 

Of  the  wave  athwart  their  bows; 

Sing  them  when  you  clear  them, 

Sing  them  when  you  steer  them, 

For  the  strength  that  they  have  given 

And  the  courage  they  arouse. 

For  the  nation  that  forgets  them, 
For  the  nation  that  regrets  them, 
Is  a  nation  that  is  dying  as  the  nations  all  must 

die; 
For  there  never  yet  was  state 

46 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

That  met  the  Roman  fate 
While  she  had  a  ship  to  guard  her  and  a  sailor 
to  stand  by. 

For  the  traffic  you  have  won, 
For  the  web  that  you  have  spun, 
To  catch  the  flies  of  commerce  and  the  fleet 
ing  gnats  of  trade 
Will  be  rent  and  blown  away, 
For  the  weak  will  never  pay 
Their  earnings  to  a  people  who  have  stamped 
themselves  afraid. 

Pull  down  the  selfish  wall! 
We  are  not  cowards  all! 
There  are  some  who  dare  to  struggle  with  the 

traders  of  the  world. 
Cast  off  the  nation's  chain, 
And  give  us  back  the  main, 
And  the  flag  that's  never  absent  and  the  sail 
that's  never  furled. 

Sing  the  sea,  sing  the  ships, 
Sing  the  sea  and  its  ships, 
47 


THE  SHIPS. 

With  the  mounding  and  the  pounding 
Of  the  wave  along  their  sides; 
When  sailing  out  and  bounding, 
When  towing  in  and  rounding, 
They  drop  the  anxious  anchor  and  they  face 
the  swinging  tides. 

Sing  them  when  you  leave  them 
Sing  them  when  you  heave  them 
To  a  fast  berth,  a  last  berth  beside  the  knackers 

quay; 

For  our  ships  are  getting  rotten 
And  our  people  have  forgotten 
The  mission  of  the  vessel  and  the  glory  of  the 
sea. 


48 


THE  MAN-O'-WAR'S-MAN'S  YARN. 


DOWN  came  the  corvette  on  our  weather; 
Then  thundered  our  broadsides  together. 

Thus  thus  we  fought  all  day; 
And  when  the  sun  set  and  evening  spread 

Across  the  East  her  mantle  gray, 

Under  our  lee  she  lay, 
Her  decks  a  mass  of  dead. 
Yet  at  her  splintered  foremast  head 
Her  ensign  laughed, 
Lifting  and  flapping  in  the  draft, 
Scorning  our  shot  to  bring  it  down. 
Our  Captain  eyed  it  with  a  frown 

To  hide  his  admiration — 

Hero  himself,  he  heroes  knew, 

Tho'  children  of  a  hated  nation. 
Then  to  his  weary  blood-stained  crew 

He  cried: — 

49 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

"To  your  guns  once  more 
And  let  our  broadside  roar!" 

Then  hot  and  close  we  plied 
Her  with  shot  that  tore 
Her  fore  and  aft ; 

Yet  still  that  crimson  banner  laughed — 
Yet  still  her  broken,  bleeding  men 
Gave  back  our  cheers  again. 

We  would  have  spared  them  then; 

As  with  fierce  and  flashing  eyes, 
With  eyes  aflame  with  pride, 
We  looked  upon  a  foe 
Who  for  twelve  hot  hours  defied 

A  vessel  twice  her  size. 
But  Fate  thrust  in  a  bloody  fist 
And  gave  our  hearts  a  devilish  twist. 
A  random  shot  that  hit  our  rail 

Came  from  her  foremost  gun, 
And  flying  in  the  splinter  hail 

Struck  down  the  one 

Whose  voice  had  shaped  and  cheered  the  fray 
Thro'  all  that  mad  and  murderous  day. 


THE  MAN-0' -WARS-MAWS   YARN. 

He  fell;   and  for  a  space  we  stood 

As  though  our  smoke-grimed  forms  had  turned 

to  wood, 
The  victims  of  some  deadly  spell. 

Silence — save  for  the  feverish  groans  of   they 

Who,  writhing,  dying  lay — 
Was  over  all ;  then  suddenly  there  burst  a  yell 
That  would  have  shocked  and  staggered  hell ! 

Ah!  you  who  sit  with  me  to-night 
And  talk  of  war,  of  might  and  right; 
Had  you  been  there  to  see  that  fight, 
When,  reeling  down  upon  the  wreck, 
We  boarded,  leaping  on  her  deck, 
And  mad  with  slaughter — mad  and  blind 
With  blood  of  ours,  aye,  your  own  kind. 
We  shot  and  cut,  we  slew 
The  remnant  of  that  dauntless  crew; 
And  when  our  pikes  had  struck  the  last 
Tore  down  that  ensign  from  the  mast. 
Had  you  been  there,  I  say,  to  see 
That  horror — but,  enough  for  me 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

To  tell,  we  shuddered  at  the  sight 
When  in  the  chill  that  follows  fight 
We  gazed  upon  that  slaughter  pen 
And  knew  those  things  as  fellow-men. 
With  feverish  haste  we  cleared  the  deck, 
Then  fired  the  slowly  sinking  wreck, 
And  cutting  loose  stood  off  astern, 
And  watched  her  spar  and  topsides  burn 
Till  suddenly  a  blinding  flash; 
A  roar.     Silence.     Here — there — a  splash 
And  all  was  o'er.    We  filled  our  yard, 
Though  leaking  much  and  laboring  hard 
Stood  up  for  port,  and  made  at  last 
The  harbor's  light.     But  ho !  avast 
With  tales  like  this;  they  breed  a  thirst— 
Another  glass — my  throat  is  curs'd 
With  fire.     Here's  to  the  gallant  tar 
Who  talks  of  peace,  yet  longs  for  war; 
Who  lives  to  see  his  ship  again 
Dispute  the  glory  of  the  main, 
And  man  for  man,  and  gun  for  gun, 
Meet  such  another  dauntless  one. 

52 


A  FOGGY  MORNING. 


SEAWARD  driving,  like  a  shriving 

Gray  monk  cloaked  in  gray, 
Thro'  the  crowded  ship-enshrouded, 

Buoy-bound  reaches  of  the  bay; 
Misty  moving  phantoms  proving 

Vessels  creeping  slowly  past. 
Hark !  the  droning  fog-horn  moaning 

From  the  steamer  looming  vast; 
Bell-buoy  telling  when  the  swelling 

Swell  of  ocean  rocks  its  boat 
Where  the  ledge's  granite  edges 

Threaten  ships  that  overfloat; 
Canvas  dripping,  dew  streams  slipping 

Down  the  black  and  swollen  gear; 
Helmsman  peering  at  the  steering 

Compass  thro'  a  watery  blear; 
Topsails  dimming  in  the  swimming 

Vapor  sea  that  floats  o'erhead, 
53 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

And  the  singing  seaman  swinging 

Constantly  the  pilot  lead; 
Sun  uprising  with  surprising 

Mystic  glory  haunts  the  shroud, 
Red  and  rolling  thro'  the  shoaling 

Eastward  verges  of  the  cloud ; 
Spars  uplifting  on  the  shifting 

Billows  of  the  fading  mist 
Seem  suspended  on  extended 

Rippling  ropes  of  amethyst; 
Day-star  bursting,  hotly  thirsting, 

Drains  the  fog  with  fervid  lips; 
Sunlight  flashing  shows  us  dashing 

Past  the  port,  the  town,  the  ships. 


54 


UNKNOWN. 


Lo !  when  the  sun  was  half  dropt  in  the  west, 
As  wing-weary  sea  birds  seeking  their  night- 
rest, 
They  drifted  in  upon  the  harbor's  breast. 

None  knew  from  whence  they  came,  or  where 

they  sailed ; 
No   betraying  pennon   from  their  mastheads 

trailed ; 
They   answered   not   when   they  were  loudly 

hailed. 

When  the  day  into  the  night  had  died 
They  clustered  on  the  ebbing  tide, 
Like  sleeping  sea  swans,  side  by  side. 

The  warders  at  the  midnight  hour, 
Within  the  shadow  of  the  tower, 
Watched  their  lanterns  rise  and  lower. 
55 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

Ere  scarce  the  day  and  earth  had  wed, 
Their  oars  on  either  side  they  spread, 
Shook  out  their  sails  and  southward  fled. 

And  when  the  sun  shot  up  across  the  bay, 
Naught  showed  where  they  had  made  their  stay, 
Save  the  broken  corals  where  their  anchors  lay. 

So  into  my  heart  at  eventide 
Ofttimes  a  fleet  of  dreams  will  glide, 
And  all  night  long  at  anchor  ride. 

From  whence  they  come,  or  where  they  go, 
What  pain  or  joy  their  forms  foreshow, 
I  dare  not  ask — I  cannot  know. 

But  when  dawn  breaks  o'er  sea  and  mart, 
With  rippling  oars  and  yearning  sails  they  start, 
Leaving  their  anchor  marks  upon  my  heart. 


THE  COASTERS. 


Overloaded,  undermanned, 

Trusting  to  a  lee; 
Playing  I-spy  with  the  land, 

Jockeying  the  sea— 
Thafs  the  way  the  Coaster  goes, 

Thro''  calm  and  hurricane: 
Everywhere  the  tide  flows, 
Everywhere  the  wind  blows, 

From  Mexico  to  Maine. 

O  East  and  West!  O  North  and  South! 

We  ply  along  the  shore, 
From  famous  Fundy's  foggy  mouth, 

From  voes  of  Labrador; 
Thro'  pass  and  strait,  on  sound  and  sea, 

From  port  to  port  we  stand — 
The  rocks  of  Race  fade  on  our  lee, 

We  hail  the  Rio  Grande. 
57 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

Our  sails  are  never  lost  to  sight; 

On  every  gulf  and  bay 
They  gleam,  in  winter  wind-cloud  white, 

In  summer  rain-cloud  gray. 

We  hold  the  coast  with  slippery  grip; 

We  dare  from  cape  to  cape ; 
Our  leaden  fingers  feel  the  dip 

And  trace  the  channel's  shape. 
We  sail  or  bide  as  serves  the  tide; 

Inshore  we  cheat  its  flow, 
And  side  by  side  at  anchor  ride 

When  stormy  head-winds  blow. 
We  are  the  offspring  of  the  shoal, 

The  hucksters  of  the  sea; 
From  customs  theft  and  pilot  toll, 

Thank  God  that  we  are  free. 

Legging  on  and  off  the  beach, 

Drifting  up  the  strait, 
Fluking  down  the  river  reach, 

Towing  thro'  the  Gate— 


THE    COASTERS. 

That's  the  way  the  Coaster  goes, 

Flirting  with  the  gale: 
Everywhere  the  tide  flows, 
Everywhere  the  wind  blows, 

From  York  to  Beavertail. 


Here  and  there  to  get  a  load, 

Freighting  anything; 
Running  off  with  spanker  stowed, 

Loafing  wing- a- wing — 
Thaf  s  the  way  the  Coaster  goes, 

Chumming  with  the  land: 
Everywhere  the  tide  Hows, 
Everywhere  the  wind  blows, 

From  Ray  to  Rio  Grande. 

We  split  the  swell  where  rings  the  bell 

On  many  a  shallow's  edge, 
We  take  our  flight  past  many  a  light 

That  guards  the  deadly  ledge, 
We  greet  Montauk  across  the  foam, 

We  work  the  Vineyard  Sound, 
The  Diamond  sees  us  running  home, 

The  Georges  outward  bound; 
59 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND   SAIL. 

Absecom  hears  our  canvas  beat 
When  tacked  off  Brigantine, 

We  raise  the  Gulls  with  lifted  sheet, 
Pass  wing-and-wing  between. 

Off  Monomoy  we  fight  the  gale, 

We  drift  off' Sandy  Key; 
The  watch  of  Fenwick  sees  our  sail 

Scud  for  Henlopen's  lee. 
With  decks  awash  and  canvas  torn 

We  wallow  up  the  Stream; 
We  drag  dismasted,  cargo  borne, 

And  fright  the  ships  of  steam. 
Death  grips  us  with  his  frosty  hands 

In  calm  and  hurricane; 
We  spill  our  bones  on  fifty  sands 

From  Mexico  to  Maine. 

Cargo  reef  in  main  and  fore, 
Manned  by  half  a  crew; 

Romping  up  the  weather  shore, 
Edging  down  the  Blue— 


60 


THE    COASTERS. 

That's  the  way  the  Coaster  goes, 

Scouting  with  the  lead: 
Everywhere  the  tide  flows, 
Everywhere  the  wind  blows, 
From  Cruz  to  Quoddy  Head. 


61 


TO-DAY. 


THE  sea  and  the  sky  are  in  love  to-day, 
Their  forms  are  the  forms  of  one; 

And  ships  that  sit  on  the  lip  of  the  bay, 
Coming  and  going  the  other  way, 

Are  sparks  in  the  sparkling  sun. 

The  shape  and  shadow  of  yachts  that  slip 
Embayed  by  the  land's  long  sweep 

Are  phantoms  that  cover  a  phantom  ship, 
While  out  on  the  shoals  the  summer  gulls  dip — 

To-day  is  a  day  asleep. 


62 


THE    SAILOR    OF    THE    SAIL. 


I   SING  the    Sailor    of  the  Sail,  breed  of  the 

oaken  heart, 
Who  drew  the  world  together  and  spread  our 

race  apart, 

Whose  conquests  are  the  measure  of  thrice  the 

ocean's  girth, 
Whose  trophies  are  the  nations  that  necklace 

half  the  earth. 

Lord  of  the  Bunt  and  Gasket  and  Master  of  the 

Yard, 
To  whom  no  land  was  distant,  to  whom  no  sea 

was  barred : 

Who  battled  with  the  current;  who  conquered 

with  the  wind; 
Who  shaped  the  course  before  him  by  the  wake 

he  threw  behind; 
63 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND   SAIL. 

Who  burned  in  twenty  climates;  who  froze  in 

twenty  seas; 
Who  crept  the  shore  of  Labrador  and  flash'd 

the  Caribbees. 

Who  followed  Drake;  who  fought  with  Blake; 

who  broke  the  bar  of  Spain, 
And  who  gave  to  timid  traffic  the  freedom  of 

the  main. 

Who  woke  the  East;  who  won  the  West;  who 

made  the  North  his  own; 
Who  weft  his  wake  in  many  a  fake  athwart  the 

Southern  zone; 

Who   drew   the  thread    of  commerce  through 

Sunda's  rocky  strait; 
Who  faced  the  fierce  Levanter  where  England 

holds  the  gate; 

Who  saw  the  frozen  mountains  draw  down  the 

moonlike  sun; 
Who  felt  the  gale  tear  at  the  sail,  and  ice  gnaw 

at  the  run; 

64 


THE    SAILOR   OF  THE    SAIL. 

Who  drove  the  lance  of  barter  through  Asia's 

ancient  shield; 
Who  tore  from  drowsy  China  what  China  dare 

not  yield; 

Who  searched  with  Cook   and  saw  him  unroll 

beneath  his  hand 
The  last,  the  strangest  continent,  the  sundered 

Southern  land; 

To  whom  all  things  were  barter — slaves,  spices, 

gold,  and  gum; 
Who  gave  his  life  for  glory;  who  sold  his  soul 

for  rum— 

I  sing  him,  and  I  see  him,  as  only  those  can 

see 
Who  stake  their  lives  to  fathom  that  solveless 

mystery; 

Who  on  the  space  of  waters  have  fought  the 

killing  gale, 
Have  heard  the  crying  of  the  spar,  the  moaning 

of  the  sail; 

65 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

Who  never  see  the  ocean  but  that  they  feel  its 

hand 
Clutch  like  a  siren  at  the  heart  to  drag  it  from 

the  land; 

I  see  him  in  the  running  when  seas  would  over 
whelm 

Lay  breathing  hard  along  the  yard  and  sweat 
ing  at  the  helm. 

I  see  him  at  the  earing  light  out  the  stubborn 

bands 
When  every  foot   of   canvas   is  screeved  with 

bloody  hands. 

I  see  him  freezing,  starving — I  see  him  scurvy 

curst, 
Alone,  and  slowly  dying,  locked  in  that  hell  of 

thirst. 

I  see  him  drunk  and  fighting  roll  through  some 

seaboard  town, 
When  those  who  own  and  rob  him  take  to  the 

street  and  frown. 
66 


THE    SAILOR   OF  THE    SAIL. 

O  Sovereign  of  the  Boundless !     O  Bondsman 

of  the  Wave ! 
Who  made  the  world  dependent,  yet  lived  and 

died  a  slave. 

In   Britain's   vast   Valhalla,   where  sleep    her 

worst  and  best — 
Where  is  the  grave  she  made   you — your  first 

and  final  rest — 

Beneath    no    stone    or    trophy,    beneath    no 

minster  tower, 
Lie  those  who  gave  her  Empire,  who  stretched 

her  arm  to  power. 

Below  those  markless  pathways  where  com 
merce  shapes  the  trail, 

Unsung,  unrung,  forgotten,  sleeps  The  Sailor 
of  The  Sail. 


67 


THE    YACHT. 


How  like  a  queen  she  walks  the  summer  sea; 
Her  canvas  crowning  well  the  comely  mold 
Light  loved  until  it  lifts  a  spire  of  gold 

Outlined  and  inset  by  a  tracery 

Of  rig  and  spar.     Hers  is  a  witchery 

Of  loveliness,  that  seems  to  draw  and  hold 

The  wind  to  do  its  bidding.     Fold  on  fold 

The  seas  charge  in;  then  stricken  by  the  free 
Quick  lancing  of  her  stem  recoil  to  break 

Against  the  breeze;  then  rushing  back  they  foam 
Along  the  rail,  and  swirl  into  the  wake, 
And  rave  astern  in  many  a  wrinkled  dome. 

For  thus  she  doth  her  windward  way  betake 
Like  one  who  lives  to  conquer  and  to  roam. 


68 


THE  TRADE-WIND'S  SONG. 


OH,  I  am  the  wind  that  the  seamen  love — 
I  am  steady,  and  strong,  and  true; 

They  follow  my  track  by  the  clouds  above 
O'er  the  fathomless  tropic  blue. 

For  close  by  the  shores  of   the  sunny  Azores 

Their  ships  I  await  to  convoy; 
When  into  their  sails  my  constant  breath  pours 

They  hail  me  with  turbulent  joy. 

Oh,  I  bring  them  a  rest  from  the  tiresome  toil 
Of  trimming  the  sail  to  the  blast; 

For  I  love  to  keep  gear  all  snug  in  the  coil 
And  the  sheets  and  the  braces  all  fast. 

From  the  deck  to  the  truck  I  pour  all  my  force, 

In  spanker  and  jib  I  am  strong; 
For  I  make  every  course  to  pull  like  a  horse 

And  worry  the  great  ship  along. 
69 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

As  I  fly  o'er  the  blue  I  sing  to  the  crew, 
Who  answer  me  back  with  a  hail; 

I  whistle  a  note  as  I  slip  by  the  throat 
Of  the  buoyant  and  bellying  sail. 

I  laugh  when  the  wave  leaps  over  the  head 
And  the  jibs  thro'  the  spray-bow  shine, 

For  an  acre  of  foam  is  broken  and  spread 
When  she  shoulders  and  tosses  the  brine. 

Thro'  daylight  and  dark  I  follow  the  bark, 
I  keep  like  a  hound  on  her  trail; 

I'm  strongest  at  noon,  yet  under  the  moon 
I  stiffen  the  bunt  of  her  sail; 

The  wide  ocean  thro'  for  days  I  pursue, 
Till  slowly  my  forces  all  wane; 

Then  in  whispers  of  calm  I  bid  them  adieu 
And  vanish  in  thunder  and  rain. 

Oh,  I  am  the  wind  that  the  seamen  love — 
I  am  steady,  and  strong,  and  true; 

They  follow  my  track  by  the  clouds  above 
O'er  the  fathomless  tropic  blue. 


70 


EXECUTION   ROCK   LIGHT. 


OUT  on  its  knoll  of  granite  gray, 

Old  Execution  rears  its  ghostly  shaft, 
And  thro'  the  night  and  thro'  the  day 

Speaks  cheer  to  passing  craft ; 
While  in  the  sun  they  see  it  gleam 

Upon  the  horizon,  miles  afar, 
And  in  the  dark  its  changeful  beam 

Flames  out  a  guiding  star. 
From  year  to  year,  thro'  calm  and  gale, 

Across  the  Sound  its  warning  flare  is  cast- 
It  cries  "  All's  well !  "  to  steam  and  sail 

And  guides  them  safely  past. 
One  day  it  hides  its  form  in  haze 

And  seems  to  sentinel  some  mystic  strand; 
The  next,  it  glories  in  the  blaze 

Of  morning's  crimson  brand. 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

And  now  across  the  stormy  tide 

It  spires  against  the  sandy  bluff,  and  shows 
The  front  of  one  who  will  abide 

The  shock  of  lusty  blows. 
Along  its  reef  the  surges  roll, 

And  white  with  repulse  rise  and  fling  their 

froth 
Like  snow  across  the  rocky  knoll, 

Then  burst  in  foamy  wrath. 
And  there  it  stands,  fearless,  sedate, 

Like  some  brave  knight  who  scorns  to  couch 

his  lance 
Against  the  churls,  but  with  his  weight 

Bears  back  their  wild  advance. 


72 


THE    CARGO    BOATS. 


I  LOVE  to  see  them,  laden  deep, 
Come  steaming  in  from  ports  afar, 

And,  slipping  past  the  light-ship,  creep 
With  watchful  steps  across  the  bar, 

Mauled  by  the  hands  of  tide  and  time, 

All  grimy  with  their  grimy  coals, 
Their  funnels  white  with  salty  rime, 

And  smoky  rings  about  their  poles. 

Look,  now,  along  the  Gedney  lane, 

With  pushing  bows   comes    slowly    through 
A  West  of  England  cargo  wain, 

With  banded  stack  and  star  of  blue. 

There  is  no  beauty  in  her  form  ; 

But  when  has  simple  beauty  paid 
In  vessel  destined  to  perform 

As  Cinderella  to  the  trade? 
73 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

Go,  let  her  haughty  sisters  flaunt 

Their  sightly  stems  and  graceful  sheers; 

But  let  her  best,  her  only  vaunt, 
Be  that  she  is  as  she  appears — 

A  thing  that  men  have  framed  to  bear 
Their  merchandise  at  cheapest  rates, 

That's  safe  to  pay  a  pound  a  share, 

And  more  when  there's  a  boom  in  freights; 

A  monster  whelped  of  monster  age 

An  age  that  thinks  but  cannot  feel— 

Whose  Bible  is  the  balanced  page, 

Whose  gods  are  gods  of  steam  and  steel. 

In  her  I  love  the  useful  thing— 

In  her  I  hate  the  sailless  mast ; 
For  I  am  one  who  cares  to  sing 

The  glories  of  the  steamless  past. 

I  feel  the  spirit  of  the  age — 
The  master  splendor  of  its  span — 

But  make  no  common  with  the  rage 
That  lifts  the  thing  above  the  man. 
74 


THE   CARGO  BOATS. 

But  useless  this — we've   learned   to    make 
The  word  mechanic  fit  a  song ; 

So  lei  us  watch  that  ship  and  take 
Her  picture  as  she  jogs  along. 

The  house-flag  hoist;  the  ensign  spread; 

The  tackles  rove;  the  booms  atop; 
The  deck-gang  busy  on  the  head; 

The  anchor  ready  for  the  drop. 

Though  from  this  outlook  men  appear 
No  bigger  than  a  dancing  midge, 

I  see  the  pilot  standing  near 

The  skipper  on  the  upper  bridge. 

The  telegraph  is  set  "stand  by"; 

The  oldest  hand  is  at  the  wheel; 
And  down  below  with  watchful  eye 

The  Chief  awaits  the  warning  peal. 

The  engines  hiss;  the  'scape-pipe  roars; 

The  firemen  spread  the  dusty  slack, 
And  sternward  from  her  funnel  pours 

A  cloud  that  lingers  in  her  track. 

75 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

The  Hook  is  past,  the  buoy  abeam; 

Then  slowly  to  her  helm  she  turns, 
And  getting  confidence  and  steam 

At  full  speed  up  the  bay  she  churns. 

Her  lean  hull  shrinks,  her  spars  grow  short, 
Her  trailing  flag  is  scarcely  seen, 

As  slipping  past  the  granite  fort 
She  drops  her  hook  off  Quarantine. 

And  we  who  watch  her  turn  away 
And  talk  of  ships  and  other  things, 

The  present  and  the  future  day, 
And  what  the  world  will  do  with  wings. 

How  men  will  stir  with  busy  hum 
The  upper  main,  by  wake  untraced, 

And  how  the  ocean  will  become 
Again  a  sailless,  shipless  waste. 


76 


THE    NOONTIDE  CALM. 


I. 

THE  azure  sky  leans  on  the  sea, 
Inverting  its  concavity, 
And  in  the  waveless  depths  below 
Re-forms  and  rolls  its  cloudy  show; 
For   cloud   and    cloud   are   piled  to  shape 
A  mountain  here,  and  there  a  cape, 
Until  the  heavens  seem  to  rest 
A  cheek  upon  the  ocean's  breast, 
And  listen,  with  white  lips  apart, 
To  catch  the  beating  of  its  heart. 
Fathoms  deep,  oh,  fathoms  deep, 
Maid  and  merman  lie  asleep; 
Calm  above  and  calm  below; 
Sheering  to  the  current's  flow, 
Vessels  red  and  vessels  brown, 
Floating,  cast  a  shadow  down 
On  the  seafolks'  coral  town. 
77 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

II. 

Slowly  the  shadows  crawl 
Along  the  wall 
Of  the  sea-king's  hall. 
The  sea-grass  curtains  thro' 
He  looks  out  upon  the  blue 
Glimmering  regions    that   bow    down 
To  the  magic  of  his  crown. 
Lord  of  half  an  ocean,  he 
Loves  to  live  where  rivers  three, 
Flowing  from  the  windy  hills, 
Drinkers  of  a  thousand  rills, 
Pour  into  the  thirsty  sea. 
There  he  delights  to  lie, 
Mirroring  the  lucent  sky 
In  his  wild  and  wondrous  eye. 
Far,  far  o'erhead  he  marks 
The  swordfish  and  the  sharks 
Darting  up  and  floating  down; 
Sees  the  porpoise,  blue  and  brown, 
Plunge  thro'  the  silver  nebula 
Of  fish; — the  herring  in  dismay 
78 


THE  NOONTIDE  CALM. 

Break,  scatter  like  a  starry  host 
Whose  path  some  errant  sun  has  cross'd. 
And  he  smiles  to  watch  the  race 
When  the  merry  dolphins  chase 
A  dogfish  from  his  flying  prey; 
Where  the  clumsy  sea-cows  stray, 
Herded  by  the  mermen  strong, 
Who,  with  lances  light  and  long, 
Keep  the  gaunt  sea-wolves  at  bay. 

III. 

Shades  of  vessels  that  have  passed 
Rope  and  sail  and  yellow  mast — 
On  the  seafolks'  town  are  cast; 
And  the  Merking,  startled  by 
Shadows  in  his  crystal  sky, 
Calls  the  guard  at  palace  gate, 
Where  he  reigns  in  ancient  state, 
Sitting  on  a  coral  throne, 
With  sea-mosses  overgrown- 
Calls  his  guard  to  send  a  slave 
Skyward,  soaring  thro'  the  wave, 
79 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

To  command  the  mariner 

To  move  on.     The  messenger, 

A  dolphin  bold, 

With  back  of  gold, 

Swiftly  cleaving,  swirling,  leaving 

A  flashing  trail, 

As  from  each  scale 

And  finny  tip 

A  silver  spray  of  bubbles  slip. 

Higher,  higher  rises  he, 

Till  from  the  surface  of  the  sea 

He  leaps,  and  gloriously 

Rolls  his  flashing  coat  of  mail 

In  the  splendor  of  the  day. 

Then  the  sailors  trim  the  sail, 

Knowing  that  the  sprightly  gale 

Cometh  when  the  dolphins  play. 

Haste  away !  Haste  away ! 

For  the  breeze 

Frets  the  seas, 

And  the  rim  of  opal  hue 

Burns  a  green  and  flames  a  blue. 

80 


THE60LD  BUCCANEER'S  SONG. 


OH,   my    heart    goes    privateering    along    th« 

Spanish  Main, 
And  I  feel   the  breezes  blowing  and  see  those 

isles  again — 
Those  isles  of  peace  and  plenty  where  we  loved 

to  linger  long, 
To'woo  the  black-eyed   Carib   maid   who  sang 

the  rover's  song; 
Who,  resting  in  the  palm  shade  when  the  sun 

was  fierce  above, 
With  many  a  tender  measure    taught  us   what 

indeed  is  love. 

Oh,    my    heart    goes    privateering    along    the 

Spanish  Main, 
And  I  hear  my  comrades   calling   me    back  to 

them  again; 

81 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND   SAIL. 

For  'tis  where  the  breakers,  roaring,  flash  in  and 

beat  the  sand — 
'Tis   where    the    feathery  plantain  shakes  its 

shadow  on  the  strand ; 
'Neath  orange  and  palmetto  and  many  a  flowery 

tree 
Dwell  the  gallant    privateersmen    who    drink 

and  think  of  me. 

Oh,    my    heart   goes    privateering   along    the 

Spanish  Main — 
I  see  our  banners  flying  and  I  hear  the  cheers 

again  : 
When  with  many  a  reckless  comrade   in  vessel 

tall  and  true, 
Before  the  constant  trade-wind   to   the   south- 

and-west  we  flew, 
And  ere  the  haughty  Spaniard  had  thought  of 

danger  near 
Town   and    tower  and    galleon  were  spoil  of 

buccaneer. 


82 


THE  OLD    BUCCANEER'S   SONG, 

Oh,    my    heart    goes    privateering    along  the 

Spanish  Main, 
And  many  a  pearl  and    red  doubloon  chink   in 

my  hand  again. 
Back,  back  unto  the  sunny  isle  to  rest  a  season 

there — 
To  bind  a  lace  of  priceless  gems   in   my  sweet 

Carib's  hair, 
To  feel  her  arms   about  my  neck,  to  hear  her 

sing  again 
The  pleasures    and    the   glories   of     our   life 

along  the  main. 

Oh,    my    heart    goes    privateering    along    the 

Spanish   Main, 
For  I  am  weary  waiting  for    those    days   to 

come  again. 
A  curse  upon  this  slothful  life   and   this  black 

northern  land! 
Oh,   give   to  me  the  sapphire  sea  and   balmy 

southern  strand ! 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND   SAIL. 

Oh,  let  me  hear  but  once  again  my  comrades' 

ringing  cheers, 
And  lead    to  spoil    and  victory    the   dashing 

buccaneers. 


THE    BELFRY    OF    THE    SEA. 


Men  who  bless  them 

And  caress  them — 
Bells  that  call  upon  the  land — 

Curse  and  chide  them, 

Mock,  deride  them, 
When  they  shout  above  a  sand. 
Not  alone  are  bells  thus  treated, 
For  the  story  is  repeated 
In  the  world  of  every  day; 

He  who  flings  us — 

He  who  brings  us — 
Joys  and  pleasures  all  may  share, 
Has  our  blessings  for  his  pay ; 

But  he  who  warns  us — 

He  who  mourns  us, 
Bids  us  to  the  watch  and  ware — 

Has  our  curses, 

And  reverses 
In  the  moulds  that  mint  our  prayer. 

85 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

0  singer  of  the  sailor's  song, 

Fear  not  to  sing  me   broad   and    strong- 
Fear  not  to  sing  me  in  the  van 
Of  those  who  stand  and  strive  for  man ; 
And  if  they  make  the  question,  then 
Come  tell  me  what  man  does  for  men. 

1  am  the  Belfry  of  the  Sea, 
The  rider  of  the  swell, 

The  guardsman  of  the  deadly  lee, 
The  outer  sentinel. 

Man  placed  me  here  to  watch  this  sand- 
This  sneaking,  shifting  shoal — 

He  shaped  me  with  a  clever  hand, 
So  that  my  bell  doth  toll 

With  every  move  and  motion 

Of  the  changeful,  changeless  ocean. 

Mine  is  a  thankless  task; 

But  no  recompense  I  ask. 

I  am  hated  by  the  shoal; 

I  am  hated  by  the  sea; 

86 


THE   BELFRY   OF    THE  SEA. 

And  the  very  fish  that  bask 

In  the  shadow  of  my  cask 

Are  half  afraid  of  me. 

The  land  wind  speaks  me  fair, 
For  it  has  no  thought  or  care 
With  the  deeds  that  are  done 

In  the  midnight  and  the  gale; 
And  it  bears  me  on  its  wing 
A  welcome  offering 
Of  the  shouting  of  the  upland 

And  the  chatter  of  the  shale. 

But  most  I  love  the  weather 
When  the  wind  and  sea  together 
Lie  locked  in  summer  slumber 

And  the  sky  sleeps  overhead, 
For  then  I  ease  the  strain 
On  my  anchor  and  my  chain, 
And  ring  a  muffled  service 

For  my  shattered,    scattered  dead. 

I  am  never  wholly  sad; 
I  am  never  wholly  glad; 

8? 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

For  my  sadness  is  half  madness 
And     my   gladness   is     half    sadness 
For  the  remnants  of  the  wrecks 
That  lie  below  me  cast 

A  gloom  upon  the  wave, 
And  my  sunny  days  are  past 
Sleeping  in  the  shadow 

That  is  shaken  from  a  grave. 

'Twas  not  I  who  betrayed  them; 
'Twas  not  I  who  waylaid  them; 
But  they  died  with  curses  for  me 

On  their  water-wasted  lips. 
I  did  my  best  to  save  them 
The  warning  that  I  gave  them 
Is  the  warning  that  has  succored 

Ten  thousand  watchful  ships. 

Ah,  had  they  used  the  lead ! 
Ah,  had  they  tacked  instead 
Of  standing  blindly  onward 
Without  a  watch  for  me ! 


88 


THE   BELFRY  OF    THE    SEA. 

They  would  have  heard  me  tolling; 
They   would   have   seen   me  rolling; 
And  have  had  a  chance  to  weather 
And  gain  the  open  sea. 

For  I  mark  a  dreaded  danger 
To  the  coaster  and  the  stranger, 
For  my  friend  below  is  silent 

And  shows  no  foamy  chain. 
Not  like  the  sunken  ledge; 
Not  like  the  reefs  that  wedge 
The  surges  from  the  undergrip 

And  hurl  them  out  again. 

For  the  reef  it  warns  the  ship 
By  the  frothing  and  the  snowing 
Of  its  rocky  underlip; 

For  it  shows  its  broken  teeth, 
And  it  bares  the  bone  beneath, 
And  roars  sometimes  in  anger, 

And  it  cries  sometimes  in  grief. 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

But  this  sluggish  and  this  sucking 

spread  of  sand 
It  is  dead  to  ear  and  eye; 
And  its  very  bounds  defy 
The  laws  that  keep  in  order 
The  stout  and  stable  land. 

It  changes  every  storm; 
And  I  never  know  its  form — 
I  who  gird  and  guard  it 

With  my  constant  clanging  bell- 
It  scarcely  gives  me  hold 
For  my  anchor  in  its  mold; 
And  we  shift  and  change  together 

With    each    mighty,    moving  swell. 

But  I  rob  it  of  its  prey, 

For  the  ships  have  time  to  stay, 

When  the  wind  takes  up  my  music 

And  bears  it  out  to  sea; 
But  when  the  Easters  roar 
And  drive  upon  the  shore 


90 


THE   BELFRY  OF    THE    SEA. 

My  loudest  cry  of  warning 
Is  tossed  and  lost  a-lee. 

Then,  then  I  cry  in  anger, 

And  the  clanging  and  the  clangor 

Shake  and  shock  the  bars 

Of  my  tossing,  toiling  cage; 
And  I  curse  the  wind  and  sea, 
And  the  chain  that's  under  me 
Strains  its  links  and  surges 

With  the  transports  of  my  rage. 

For  I  know  I  cannot  save  them; 

And  the  shoal  that  thinks  to  grave  them- 

That  will  feed  its  thousand  acres 

On  their  oaken  frames  and  sides — 
It  seems  to  mound  its  spread, 
It  seems  to  lift  its  head, 
As  though  to  make  more  deadly 

The  tangle  of  its  tides. 

In  the  snow,  in  the  fog, 

When  the  sharpest  eyes  are  blind; 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

When  the  ocean 

Has  scarce  motion, 

And  the  wind 

Has  forsaken; 

When  my  power  of  speech  is  taken, 

And  I  sit  in  silent  pain; 

When  I  toil  and  toil  in  vain 

To  force  the  larum  note 

From  the  muscles  of  my  throat, 

And  it  only  breathes  a  toll 

That  dies  upon  the  shoal; 

And  I  strive  and  I  writhe 

With  the  pain  of  action  palsied 

By  a  force  beyond  control. 
When  I  cannot  see  or  hear  them; 
When  I  cannot  warn  or   cheer    them; 
And  only  know  that  they  are  there 

By  the  throbbing  of  my  soul. 

For  I  know  that  they  will  blame  me; 
For  I  know  that  they  will  name  me 
With  the  bitterest  of  curses 
For  the  silence  of  my  note, 
92 


THE    BELFRY  OF    THE    SEA. 

And  I  stoop  and  pray  the  sea 
To  lend  its  aid  to  me; 
But  it  mocks  me  with  a  ripple 
That  scarcely  wets  my  float. 

And  then  I  hear  them  calling, 

As  slowly,  slowly  crawling 

They  come  working  in  from  seaward 

With    their  whistles  crying    where  1 
And  I  try  to  answer  back 

That  I'm  lying  in  the  track; 
But  the  loudest  cry  I  make  them 

Is  a  thread  upon  the  air. 

Swing — swing — 

Ring— ring— 
Roll— roll— 

Toll— toll- 
Just  a  thing 

Without  a  soul, 
Doing  its  duty  on  the  shoal; 

Just  a  bell 
That  sea  and  swell 
93 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

In  their  fury,  in  their  play, 
Set  a  throbbing, 

And  a  sobbing; 
By  their  very  madness  robbing — 

By  their  rage  and  rush  defeating, 
By  their  hate  and  hurry  cheating— 

Ocean  of  its  prey. 
Swing — swing — 

Ring— ring- 
Roll— roll- 
Toll— toll. 


94 


PHANTOMS. 

LIKE  a  tide  that  runs  increasing, 

Bearing  ships  to  port  again, 
There's  a  tide  that  brings  unceasing 

Pleasures  to  my  restless  brain. 

When  at  night  I  sit  and  swinging 
Idly  to  a  strain  of  thought, 

Then  it  flows,  resistless,  bringing 
Countless  tales  with  pleasure  fraught. 

And  it  seems  as  though  the  olden 

Stories  of   the  mystic  sea 
Came  like  ships  to  bear  their  golden, 

Precious  cargoes  unto  me. 

For  I  hail  with  deep  emotion 

All  those  gray  and   ghostly  forms, 

Phantoms  of  the  shoreless  ocean 
That  is  swept  by  constant  storms.  , 

95 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

And  I  see  from  mist-enshrouded, 
Ancient,  half-forgotten  tales 

Galleons  rise,  and  memory  clouded, 
Pass  with  faint  and  formless  sails. 

Others  come,  the  tall  and  splendid 
Monarchs  of  the  oaken  side, 

Who,  with  master  arms,  contended 
For  the  empire  of  the  tide. 

One  by  one  they  pass  in  glory — 

Stately  shapes  that  led  the  van- 
Builders  of   the  ocean's  story, 
Noblest  gift  of  man  to  man. 

And  not  less  the  worn  and  shattered, 
Drifting,  find  my  port  at  last. 

All  the  stranded,  stove,  and  battered 
Victims  of  the  wave  and  blast, 

They  are  mine  by  right  of  capture: 
Buccaneer  and  ship  of  plate; 

And  I  search  their  holds  with  rapture 
Till  the  night  grows  cold  and  late; 

96 


PHANTOMS. 

Till  the  moon,  high-prowed  and  dipping, 
Like  a  ship  of   ancient  worth, 

Leaves  her  cloudy  port  and  slipping, 
Spins  her  wake  across  the  earth. 

And  the  wind,  to  peace  consenting, 
Breathes  a  hymn  above  the  land; 

And  the  ocean,  half  repenting, 
Kneels  in  prayer  along  the  sand. 


97 


FLOTSAM. 


FOR  the  tide  runs  in  and  the  tide  runs  out, 
And  the  women  they  talk  and  wait, 

For  hope  has  a  soul  that  is  built  of  doubt, 
And  our  ships  are  ofttimes  late. 

And  the  tide  runs  up  and  the  tide  runs  down, 

And  the  drift  goes  floating  past; 
A  message  it  bears  to  the  waiting  town 

In  form  of  a  broken  mast. 

Look!  no  seaweed  yellows  its  shattered  ends"! 

No  shell-fish  whiten  its  girth! 
'Tis  a  message,  they  cry,  old  Ocean  sends 

To  those  they  have  left  on  earth ! 

And  the  tide  runs  up  and  the  tide  runs  down, 

And  the  sea  reclaims  its  toll; 
But  the  hopes  that  live  in  that  stricken  town 

Are  those  hopes  that  have  no  soul. 


98 


THE    LOST   SHIP. 


WHO  saw  the  ship  going  down  to  the  sea 

With   her   topsails   sheeted   home,  and    her 
spanker 

Swelling  like  a  course,  foam  along  the  lee, 
And  the  crew  on  the  tackle  of  the  anchor  ? 

Who  saw  her  running  off  from  the  land, 

Wind  blowing  strong,  steering  true  for  the 
light-ship, 

But  went  away  wishing  he  might  command 
Some  future  day  such  a  tall,  such  a  tight  ship? 

Came  she  never  back  again  to  that  port? 

Long  did  they  wait,  watching  out  at  eve  and 

morn. 

Last  was  she  seen  hove-to  with  canvas  short 
By  an  eastward  bounder  scudding  past  the 
Horn. 

99 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND   SAIL. 

Who  saw  her  sink  that  midnight  in  the  storm  ? 

Where   does   she  lie,   rig-tangled  and  hull- 
broken  ? 
Sails  she,  perhaps,  a  ghostly,  gliding  form, 

That  silent  sea  where  ships  are  never  spoken? 


100 


THE    MAIN-SHEET    SONG. 


RUSHING  along  on  a  narrow  reach, 

Our  rival  under  the  lee, 
The  wind  falls  foul  of   the  weather  leach, 

And  the  jib  flaps  fretfully. 
The  skipper  casts  a  glance  along, 

And  handles  his  wheel  to  meet — 
Then  sings  in  the  voice  of  a  stormy  song, 

''All  hands  get  on  that  sheet!" 

Yo  ha!  Yo  ho!     Then  give  her  a  spill, 

With  a  rattle  of   blocks  abaft. 
Yo  ha!  Yo  ho!     Come  down  with  a  will 

And  bring  the  main-sheet  aft. 

Rolling  the  foam  up  over  the  rail 

She  smokes  along  and  flings 
A  spurt  of  spray  in  the  curving  sail, 

And  plunges  and  rolls  and  springs; 

101 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND   SAIL. 


Koif  a.wUdj,  wet,  spot,  is.-  the  scuppers'  sweep, 
As  we  stand  :  to-  our  -kn'ees  along  — 

It's  a  foot  to  make  and  a  foot  to  keep 
As  we  surge  to  the  bullie's  song. 

Yo  ha!  Yo  ho!     Then  give  her  a  spill 

With  a  rattle  of  blocks  abaft. 
Yo  ha!  Yo  ho!     Come  down  with  a  will 

And  bring  the  main-sheet  aft. 

Muscle  and  mind  are  a  winning  pair 

With  a  lively  plank  below, 
That  whether  the  wind  be  foul  or  fair 

Will  pick  up  her  heels  and  go; 
For  old  hemp  and  hands  are  shipmates  long  — 

There's  work  whenever  they  meet  — 
So  here's  to  a  pull  that's  steady  and  strong, 

When  all  hands  get   on  the  sheet. 

Yo  ha!     Yo  ho!     Then  give  her  a  spill 

With  a  rattle  of  blocks  abaft. 
Yo  ha!  Yo  ho!     Come   down  with  a  will 

And  bring  the  main-sheet  aft. 


102 


THE    LANDFALL 


THE  scent  of   the  soil  is  strong  on  the  breeze, 

The  gulls  are  many  and  shrill, 
And  over  the  crest  of  the  cresting  seas 

Is  floating  a  rosy  hill ; 
And  right  at  the  base  of  this  filmy  shape, 

Just  clear  of  the  weather  shroud, 
Say,  is  it  ship,  or  is  it  a  cape, 

Or  a  hard  spot  in  the  cloud? 
But  hark !  from  aloft  where  the  seaman  swings, 

And  points  with  an  eager  hand, 
Then  fore  and  aft  the  glad  cry  rings 

Land,  ho,  land! 


103 


THE  CLIPPER. 


HER  sails  are  strong  and  yellow  as  the  sand, 
Her  spars  are  tall  and  supple  as  the  pine, 
And,  like  the  bounty  of  a  generous  mine, 

Sun-touched,  her  brasses  flash  on  every  hand. 

Her  sheer  takes  beauty  from  a  golden  band, 
Which,  sweeping  aft,  is  taught  to  twist  and  twine 
Into  a  scroll,  and  badge  of  quaint  design 

Hang  on  her  quarters.     Insolent  and  grand 
She  drives.    Her  stem  rings  loudly  as  it  throws 

The  hissing  sapphire  into  foamy  waves, 

While  on  her  weather  bends  the  copper  glows 

In  burnished  splendor.  Rolling  down  she  laves 
Her  high  black  sides  until  the  scupper  flows, 

Then  pushing  out  her  shapely  bow  she  braves 
The  next  tall  sea,  and,  leaping,  onward  goes. 


104 


THE    CONSTITUTION. 


WHERE  Glory  dwells  a  hundred  years, 

That  spot  becomes  a  shrine, 
The  very  soil  she  trod  appears 

To  bear  the  touch  divine; 
The  rusted  gun,  the  shattered  blade, 

Are  kept  with  sacred  hand, 
And  Honor  bows  before  the  shade 

That  fought  to  save  the  land. 

Then  why  neglect — why  give  to  rot 
This  victor  of  the  flood  ? 

Is  she  less  holy  than  the  spot 
That  drank  a  hero's  blood  ? 

Has  she  no  plume  to  wing  a  thought- 
No  spark  to  fire  a  mind? 

In  names  like  her's  such  deeds  are  wrought 
As  glorify  mankind. 


105 


SONGS   OF  SEA    AND  SAIL. 

And  they,  whose  mighty  banner  fell 

Before  her  lightning's  blast, 
Their  victor  rides  the  harbor  swell 

Unshorn  of  yard  and  mast; 
And  Glory  gilds  her  like  a  sun, 

When,  steaming  thro'  the  wave, 
With  dipping  flag  and  rapid  gun, 

The  brave  salute  the  brave. 

Then  give  ours   back,  the  sail,  the  spar- 

Go  let  her  broadside  roar ! 
A  gun  for  every  glit'ring  star 

Her  conquering  ensign  bore. 
To  show  ye  have  not  held  in  vain 

The  heritage  she  kept, 
Oh,  let  her  image  grace  again 

The  sea  she  proudly  swept! 


106 


THE   TARTAR. 


THE  wind  from  East  to  South  has  shifted, 
The    sea's   gone    down    and    the    clouds   are 

rifted, 

And  broad  on  the  larboard  bow  are  seen 
A  full-rigged  ship  and  a  brigantine, 
With  a  topsail  schooner  in  between — 

All  bound  to  London  Town. 

The  ship  with  a  golden  freight  is  freighted, 
The  old  brigantine  with  coal  is  weighted, 
The  schooner's  a  slippery  privateer, 
With  roguish  rig  and  a  saucy  sheer — 
Her  cargo  is  guns  and  hearts  of  cheer — 

All  bound  to  London  Town. 

A  Frenchman  out  of  old  Brest  is  cruising, 
"  A  chance,"  says  he,  "  there's  no  refusing. 

107 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

I  will  drive  that  privateer  away; 

The  ship  and  the  brig  will  be  my  prey, 

For  we  don't  meet  prizes  every  day — 

All  bound  to  London  Town." 

Then,  crowding  sail,  on  the  wind  he  hurried; 
The  ship  and  the  brig  they  worried  and 

scurried. 

The  privateer,  with  her  canvas  short, 
Just  showed  a  muzzle  at  every  port, 
For  she'd  a  crew  of  the  fighting  sort — 

When  bound  to  London  Town. 

The  Frenchman  tacked  the  weather  gauge  after; 
The  privateer  cut  the  sea  abaft  her; 
Before  she  had  time  to  ease  a  turn 
They  drove  a  broadside  into  her  stern, 
For  fighting's  a  trade  one's  apt  to  learn- 
When  bound  to  London  Town. 

Then  side  by  side  with  their  guns  they  pounded, 
Till  catching  a  puff  the  schooner  rounded, 


108 


THE   TARTAR. 

And  ere  they  had  way  to  do  the  like, 
She  laid  them  aboard  with  blade  and  pike, 
So  what  could  the  Brestman  do  but  strike — 

And  go  to  London  Town? 

The  wind  from  East  to  the  South  has  shifted, 
The  sea's  gone  down  and  the  clouds  are  rifted, 
And  broad  on  the  larboard  bow  are  seen 
A  privateer  and  a  brigantine, 
With  a  captured  Frenchman  in  between- 
All  bound  to  London  Town. 


109 


WARNING. 


WHEN  the  old  moon  hangs  to  the  cloud's  gray 

tail 

And  the  stars  play  in  and  out; 
When  the  East  grows  red  and  the  West  looks 

pale 
And  the  wind  goes  knocking  about; 

When  over  the  edge  of  the  shapeless  coast, 
Where  the  horizon  bites  the  cloud, 

The  rack  of  the  rain  stalks  in  like  a  ghost 
And  a  sail  blows  through  its  shroud — 

When  the  morn  is  such,  of  the  noon  beware! 

For  this  calm's  a  stormy  feint: 
A  reef  in  the  sail  is  better  than  prayer, 

For  a  snug  ship  needs  no  saint. 


no 


IN    SEPTEMBER. 

OH,  THE  wind,  the  wind, 

And  the  white  wake  behind; 

And  the  land 

Of  yellow  sand, 

Looming  like  a  band 

Of  gold  along  the  rim; 

And  the  laughter  of  the  sea, 

And  the  sense  of  mystery, 

In  the  dim 

Stretch  of  lee, 

Where  the  haze 

In  the  blaze 

Of  heat  seems  to  meet 

The  sky. 

Oh,  the  happy  sails  that  fly 

To  the  east,  to  the  south, 

And  the  light-house  at  the  mouth 

Of  the  bay 

With  its  gray 

in 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

Granite  spire 

Bold  against  the  higher 

Lift  o'  green, 

And  a  smoky  tug-boat's  trail 

Flaunting  like  a  tail 

Of  stormy  cloud, 

And  a  steamer  in  between 

With  her  paddles  whirring  round. 

Oh,  a  day  upon  the  Sound, 

With  the  wind,  the  wind, 

Coming  out  behind, 

And  the  feeling  of  content 

That  is  lent 

To  the  mind, 

When  the  sailing  breeze  is  fair, 

And  your  only  thought  or  care 

Is  to  keep 

The  sails  asleep, 

And  run, 

Until  the  sun 

Drops  in  the  West — 

Then  rest  is  best. 


112 


THE    HOMEWARD    BOUNDER'S    SONG. 


THERE'S  many  a  ship  with  taller  mast, 

There's  many  of  squarer  yard, 
There's  many  a  one  that  sails  as  fast 

And  many  that  roll  as  hard; 
With  decks  as  white,   with  paint  as  bright, 

With  hull  as  staunch  and  sound; 
But  never  ship  that  steers  so  light 

As  the  ship  that's  homeward  bound! 

Then  give  her  a  spoke,  and  keep  her  west, 
Hurrah,  for  the  world  is  round  ! 

And  here's  to  the  ship  that  steers  the  best — 
Hurrah  for  the  homeward  bound  ! 

There's  many  a  port  in  distant  land 

And  many  a  splendid  sight, 
Where  turret  slim  and  palace  grand 

Rise  skyward  tall  and  white; 


SONGS  OF  SEA    AND   SAIL. 

Where  castles  rear,  and  far  and  near 
Shines  many  a  golden  dome; 

But  never  sight  that's  half  so  dear 
As  the  dear  old  port  at  home. 

Then  give  her  a  spoke,  and  keep  her  west, 

Hurrah  for  a  breeze  astern  ! 
And  here' s  to  the  port  we  love  the  best — 

The  port  where  the  twin-lights  burn  ! 

There's  many  a  maid  of  fashion  rare 

In  warm  and  palmy  lands, 
With  sea-deep  eyes  and  night-black  hair 

And  brown  and  shapely  hands; 
With  lips  as  red  as  ever  led 

The  heart  of  a  man  to  roam, 
But  never  one  we'd  take  instead 

Of  the  girl  that  waits  at  home. 

Then  give  her  a  spoke  and  keep  her  west, 
Hurrah  for  a  wake  of  foam  ! 

And  here' s  to  the  girl  we  love  the  best — 
The  girl  that  we  leave  at  home. 

114 


THE    SPELL    OF    THE    SEA. 


BY  the  sea  I  sit  and  dream 

Of  things  that  have  passed,  and  now 
Are  fading  as  fades  the  gleam 

Of  sail  on  the  ocean's  brow, 
And  I  hear  that  song  again 

She  sang  to  the  world  before 
Men  had  crossed  her  glit'ring   plain 

To  die  on  the  further  shore. 

'Tis  a  song  that,  like  the  wind 

In  a  stormy  counterpart, 
Rouses  and  rolls  the  restless  mind, 

Till  it  breaks  against  the  heart — 
Till  it  hurls  its  foam  amain 

On  the  reefs  which  gird  that  lee — 
And  the  heart  is  swept  again 

By  that  yearning  for  the  sea. 

"5 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

Ah,  the  sea  it  sings  that  song 

Whenever  the  moon  is  full — 
Whenever  the  wind  is  strong, 

And  the  tides  are  bountiful— 
And  it  throws  a  spell  o'er  ene 

That  my  heart  cannot  withstand, 
So  clearly  do  I  foresee 

That  I  shall  not  die  on  land. 


116 


DAYS    OF    OAK. 


I. 

WHEN  ship  met  ship  in  olden  days, 

With  battle  banners  flaunting, 
From  stem  to  stern  the  cannon's  blaze 

A  fiery  challenge  vaunting— 
Then  man  fought  man,  as  brave  men  should, 

To  keep  those  walls  of  native  wood. 

II. 

When  broadsides  roaring  swept  the  deck, 
And  crews  were  madly  cheering; 

When  sail  and  spar  were  shot  to  wreck, 
And  ships  were  swiftly  nearing; 

Then  men  faced  death,  as  brave  men  should, 
Behind  their  walls  of  native  wood. 


117 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND   SAIL. 

III. 

When  face  to  face  and  hand  to  hand — 
When  boarders'  blades  were  flashing; 

When  bloody  pikes  made  desperate  stand, 
And  pistol  balls  were  crashing — 

Then  man  fought  man,  as  brave  men  should, 
To  keep  those  walls  of  native  wood. 

IV. 

When  valiant  arms  prevailed  at  last, 

The  foe  for  quarter  crying, 
The  dying  seaman  eyed  the  mast, 

And  cheered  his  colors  flying — 
For  men  met  death,  as  brave  men  should, 

Behind  their  walls  of  native  wood. 


118 


LONG,    LONG   AGO. 


As  slow  our  boat  the  water  thro' 

Is  stealing  on  the  breeze, 
The  curving  sky  a  tender  blue, 

A  deeper  blue  the  seas; 
We  mark  whereon  the  western  edge 

A  band  of  coast  is  seen, 
Where  juts  the  cape  and   slopes  the  ledge, 

A  port  is  shut  between. 

On  either  side  a  sudden  rise 

Of  black  and  broken  rock 
Thrusts  out  an  arm  that  well  defies 

The  frantic  ocean's  shock; 
And  from  its  point  the  sunken  reef 

Runs  out  a  mile  or  more, 
Where  many  a  ship  has  come  to  grief 

When  breaking  breakers  roar. 
119 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

Long,  long  ago,  in  sudden  wrath 

A  storm  burst  on  this  land ; 
It  caught  a  fleet  within  its  path — 

An  admiral  in  command. 
For  three  black  days  they  fought  the  gale, 

Then  one  by  one  they  wore — 
And  reft  of  spar  and  stripped  of  sail 

Went  smashing  on  that  shore. 

Where  red  and  rough  the  land-slip  beach 

Is  touched  by  tiny  waves — 
Beyond  the  winter  breaker's  reach 

They  dug  their  shallow  graves ; 
And  with  a  prayer  that  half  expressed 

The  sorrow  that  they  knew, 
They  laid  the  admiral  there  to  rest 

Surrounded  by  his  crew. 

But,  ah,  to-day  is  sweet — and  lo, 

The  ocean  is  at  rest, 
Save  for  a  breathing  low  and  slow 

Of  wind  across  its  breast. 


120 


LONG,   LONG  AGO. 

Far  out  beyond  the  cloudy  forms 
Are  anchored  on  the  edge — 

It  is  no  time  to  talk  of  storms, 
Of  wrecks  upon  the  ledge. 


I2T 


WIND    HAPPY   SHIPS. 


WIND  happy  ships,  that  rise  and  make 

Across  the  gaping  bay, 
To  dance  like  bubbles  in  the  wake 

Of  westward  flying  day. 

So  quick  they  rise,  so  swift  they  flow, 
So  bright  their  topsails  gleam, 

They  seem  to  come,  and  come  and  go 
Like  joy-thoughts  in  a  dream. 

Wind  happy  ships,  in  constant  flight 

Across  the  sloping  main, 
That  thro'  the  dark  and  thro'  the  light 

Sail  on  and  on  again. 

A  port  ye  have,  I  know  not  where — 
'Tis  far  beyond  my  world — 

But  pray  some  day  may  find  you  there 
With  all  your  canvas  furled. 


122 


THE   QUEST. 


MY  carrack  rides  the  wave  below, 

The  castle  glooms  above — 
"  Now  who  will  sail  the  sea  with  me, 

To  find  the  man  I  love  ?  " 

Three  pilots  tall  sit  in  the  hall, 
And  drink  my  father's  ale — 

"  Now  one  of  three  must  go  with  me, 
This  ship  of  mine  to  sail." 

Deep,  deep  they  quaffed,  and  quaffing, 
Struck  the  board  with  tankard  chine- 

**  Now  in  what  port,  to  East  or  West, 
Dwells  this  true  love  of  thine  ? " 

"  I  seek  no  port  to  East  or  West, 

But  down  beyond  the  rim, 
By  following  far  the  falling  star, 

My  ship  will  come  to  him. 
123 


SONGS  OF  SEA   AND   SAIL. 

"  He  rules  a  land  of  surfless  shores, 

Of  deep  enchanted  bays; 
Where  time  is  twice  as  long  again, 

And  half  the  nights  are  days; 

"Where  dreams  are  dreamt  with  open  eyes; 

Where  love  forbears  to  change ; 
And  all  that's  new  is  old  and  sweet, 

And  all  that's  old  is  strange." 


Loud,  loud  they  laughed,  and  laughing 
Blew  the  foam  from  bearded  lips 

As  blows  the  gale  the  whiter  foam 
From  the  bows  of  plunging  ships. 

Then  up  and  spake  the  youngest  one — 
And  laughter  seamed  his  cheek — 

"  There  is  no  port  beyond  the  rim, 
Such  as  the  port  you  seek. 

"The  sea  is  wide,  and  isles  may  hide 

Unknown  to  pilot's  eye; 
But  this,  methink,  lies  on  the  brink, 

When  glows  the  ev'ning  sky: 

124 


THE  QUEST. 

"  A  vapory  shore  that  fades  before 

The  swift-advancing  stars ; 
Where  rides  the  moon  on  blue  lagoon 

Embayed  by  golden  bars." 

He  ceased;  and  the  boisterous  laughter 

Rose  rumbling  thro'  the  hall. 
It  swept  like  a  gale  among  the  mail, 
And  the  banners  shook  like  shivered  sail, 
As  it  rolled  from  wall  to  wall. 

Then  up  and  spake  the  second  one: 

"  I  fear  not  wind  nor  wave; 
But  this  soft  clime  of  twice-long  time 

Must  lie  beyond  the  grave. 

11  No  seaman's  skill,  no  pilot's  art, 

May  find  that  port,  I  ween, 
For  God  alone  doth  read  the  chart 

Of  that  dark  sea  between. 

"  And  though  I  serve  my  Lord  and  King 
With  head,  and  heart,  and  hand, 

I  will  not  make,  for  woman's  sake, 
A  voyage  to  find  that  land  !" 
125 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

They  laughed,  but  they  laughed  less  lightly, 
As  though  they  felt  their  breath, 

And  cheered  the  jest  to  free  the  breast 
From  ugly  thoughts  of  death. 

The  maiden  stepp'd  three  paces  back, 

But  nothing  did  she  say — 
She  turned  her  eyes  upon  the  west, 
She  signed  the  cross  upon  her  breast, 

Then  bent  her  knee  to  pray. 

Dear  heart,  but  it  was  beautiful 

To  hear  that  maiden's  prayer! 
So  strong  of  faith,  so  rich  with  love — 
It  seem'd  as  though  the  sun  above 

Slipp'd  down  to  drink  its  share. 

And  the  saint  on  the  window  painted 
Looked  down  on  her  bended  head, 

As  a  father  who  lingers  watching 
Soft  breathed  above  the  dead — 

Looked  down  from  the  glowing  casement, 
From  the  sun-lit  crimson  glass — 

126 


THE  QUEST. 

Then  followed  a  murmur  of  whispered  prayer, 
And  a  silence  descended  unaware, 
Like  the  silence  of  the  mass. 

Then  up  she  rose  like  one  refreshed, 

Who  bendeth  o'er  a  stream 
And  drinketh  deep,  and  in  her  eyes 
There  shone  the  light  that  mocks  the  wise 

And  maketh  doubt  a  dream. 

Then  up  she  rose  as  one  refreshed 

And  spake  but  once  again: 
"  If  you  trust  your  heart  above  your  art 

Our  search  will  not  be  vain." 

Then  stood  and  spake  the  oldest  one: 

"  My  eyes  are  true  and  keen, 
And  I  have  sailed  for  four-score  years 

Wherever  ship  hath  been. 

"  From  East  to  West,  from  North  to  South, 

With  every  wind  that  blows, 
I  know  no  land  beyond  the  rim 

Where  boundless  bays  repose; 

127 


SONGS   OF  SEA   AND  SAIL. 

"  Where  sleeps  the  sea  along  the  strand 
Of  sky-like  slopes  that  wear 

So  rich  a  light  the  very  night 
Forgets  to  linger  there. 

"  It  seems  to  me,  if  such  there  be, 

No  man  could  pass  it  by; 
And  I  will  make,  for  thy  dear  sake, 

This  voyage  before  I  die. 

"And  if  I  fail  that  port  to  hail, 
God  fend  my  soul.     Oh,  pray ! 

The  task  I  take  for  love's  sweet  sake 
May  wash  some  sins  away." 


128 


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